Aereo is officially off the airwaves. Aereo chief executive Chet Kanojia said in a blog post that the company will “pause” its streaming services at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 28, and refund users for their last month of service. (It’s especially unfortunate timing for users who were hoping to tune in for the Brazil vs. Chile World Cup match.)
“We have decided to pause our operations temporarily as we consult with the court and map out our next steps,” wrote Kanojia. Still, the CEO remained unapologetic and maintained the startup's stance:
The spectrum that the broadcasters use to transmit over the air programming belongs to the American public and we believe you should have a right to access that live programming whether your antenna sits on the roof of your home, on top of your television or in the cloud.
The shutdown comes just three days after the Supreme Court ruled that the Boston-based company was in violation of Copyright Act by replaying recording of big TV shows from big broadcasters, including Disney, NBC, CBS, FOX, among others.
Aereo argued that its DVR-for-the-cloud service only rented technology via $8 per month subscriptions to customers, who then retransmitted the episodes.
Aereo is headquartered in New York, but keeps 75 of its 110 employees in an office in Boston. The company raised $97 million from New York firm FirstMark Capital and Cambridge-based Highland Capital Partners, among others. In the wake of the Court’s decision, many members of the Boston tech community spoke out in support of the startup’s innovation.
"We are disappointed in the outcome, but our work is not done," said the company in a statement on Wednesday.
Aereo has yet to show signs of a pivot, but putting a pause on their service will certainly buy them some planning time.
Image via CNN
